Tuesday 28 June 2011

Where to find me

Over the next few months I have will be having fun and hopefully selling at the following events.......

2nd July - Birdlip and Brimpsfield Playgroup table top sale from 2pm

9th July - Priory Fair, Cheltenham 2-5pm

10th July - Charity Fete and Car boot, Strensham  10-4pm

16th July - Sherston Boules 10 - 4pm

27th August - The Cotswolds Vintage Fair, Toddington 10 - 4pm

I hope to see you there!

Monday 27 June 2011

Help!

I have managed to loose the pictures that are attached to my followers blog titles - don't know how but does anyone know how to get them back???

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Be still my beating heart

Jackson Brodie........................Luscious................................no need to say any more!

Monday 20 June 2011

Flaming June

I'm not sure if I should call it Raining June instead?
As it's summer I thought I would make a feature of my cake stands as I currently have a few, so on Wednesday whilst at the Cornhall I set to and created a little display....


I have added some pretty fabric cupcakes from Laura Ashley to create that summer afternoon tea party feel.  Vintage glass cake stands are becoming harder to find and luckily I have some stunners for sale.  However I was a little hindered when trying to set up my fabulous display.....

These 2 jokers thought this was hilarious!  The gorgeous Lyds and Jules, I think they may have been a little bored!!
So to continue with my cake stand theme I am offering 10% discount on any Vintage Glass Cake Stand purchased during June.

Monday 13 June 2011

Beach Hut

This beauty is up for sale!
When we were children me and my brother spent many happy summers in Suffolk staying on our grandparent's farm.  Living nearby were lots of aunts, uncles and cousins.  The whole family rented a beach hut at Felixstowe which we had use of all summer long.  I loved that hut and can still smell it now!  We used to get changed in and store all our beach items, we had windbreaks which would be erected around a huge area of pebbly beach.  We had tomato soup made with milk after a freezing cold swim and were not allowed in the sea again until at least an hour after eating! (my Aunty Mary's rule!) Such happy, happy, sunny times
I wish I lived nearer to the sea and owned one of these beauties - hey ho maybe one day.

Why Lotties Barn?

When I first decided to start my little business I needed to come up with a name.  When my second daughter was born we could not agree on a name for her and were still deciding after she was born!  We liked the name Charlotte but my husband had a peculiar way of pronouncing it which I could not live with, I also wanted to shorten Charlotte to Lottie and my husband to Charlie, so there you have it, we called her something completely different!  We also live in a barn!  I still love the name Lottie so Lotties Barn was born.

Sunday 12 June 2011

Inspiration

Over the years I have made lots of things, toy boxes, painted ikea boxes, Scumble Goosie painted items & furniture all to sell and all with varying degrees of success.  So last year when my mum gave me 2 wooden 1970's frames I initially thought I would just paint them, they were large and had a kind of bark/wallpaper trim which would still show once painted, so when I found some pretty red and white decoupage paper I thought that would be just the job.  I painted them gloss red, with paper detail and added a collage of photos of my girls.  On white walls they look fab!  So forward 6 months and I am now covering mirror frames with paper and the results have been amazing - I am so amazed and thrilled each time I sell one.  Do you want to see my latest one?


I think this is fab -  I love the colours.  I spend quite a bit of time sourcing new papers which means that unfortunately this involves going into loads and loads of fabulous shops!!  I have told my husband that it is purely for research!
I find the mirrors in all sorts of places and some are easier to cover than others and there are many mirrors that I didn't buy that I so wish I had.
Anyway this mirror and others will be on my stall this week.

Saturday 4 June 2011

All's well that ends well

Phew the jam has set!  I have it on very good authority - from northern jam connosoir, Joe - that the jam is delicious and does indeed stay on the bread (an earlier complaint from another taster)

Here it is - I am delighted that all the hard work and patience paid off!  I have 11 jars so we should be well stocked for the winter.
I didn't have a great day at the Cornhall this week so decided a little treat was in order, want to see what the treat was?

A little brooch that I couldn't resist, I do have quite a lot of brooches/badges but I thought this was too pretty to leave behind!  I have a stall at a fete in Chalford tomorrow so I hope the sun shines and I have a good day.  Have a great weekend.

Wednesday 1 June 2011

disaster!!

Well here's the plan, it's half term, my girls are home, the weather is a little bit sunny, I am feeling a tiny little bit like Nigella Lawson crossed with Nigel Slater crossed with a fabulous mother.  So put all this together and I decided to make strawberry jam with my girls!  So off we set to pick strawberry's at our local PYO farm......


My eldest did ask what PYO means!
So strawberry's picked and a kings ransom paid off we set to a well known supermarket to purchase sugar.  On arriving home with the job of hulling the said strawberries to be done, suddenly everyone is busy.
So the job falls to me!

So to work, pan too small for number of strawberries picked, took ages to come to boil, boiled for ever, once boiling had to decant to second pan as boiling over edge of first pan, used all saucers to test, decided to bottle in the hope it may set once cooled - RESULT, 3 hours later - runny strawberry jam!!
DISASTER!!!!
Plan B - decant jam, buy Certo, re-boil, put back into rewashed and sterilised jars, add gorgeous Cath Kidston labels - job done!  I can then convince everyone that I am indeed Nigella Lawson crossed with Nigel Slater!  Forget the fabulous mother part, once they had picked and scoffed their weight in strawberries they lost interest
Picture of completed scrummy jam to follow once above actions have been completed.